Summer '05

An Online Journal of Our Adoption Journey

Showing off a new dress

Summer '05

September 3, 2005
The past five months have been very busy for the Thomas family. We purchased a condo and moved the apartment we had been living in for the past nine years. Autumn did really well, and adapted to the move with flying colors.

Our China baby as sure grown! She's running around, talking, playing, jumping, climbing, and holding her breath in the water. We've taken her to the San Diego Zoo several times, to the beach, and took a camping trip up to San Francisco up along the coast. And then we moved into our new place!

Our new home is located in La Mesa, a suburb on the eastern edge of San Diego that is actually a city in its own right. It's a three bedroom, two bath, single story condo with vaulted ceilings, a rear patio, and our own jacuzzi! Here are some photos of the place.

It took us all of July to move in. Not only did we have to move out of our old place, but we also moved Lise out of her downtown office and into the third bedroom. Autumn had some nightmares and was pretty clingy for the first few nights, but over the weeks she adjusted. One thing we noticed is that she wanted to go asleep by about 7:30. Sleep, I think, was a comfort to her. The loft bed she has was put together on the third night, and that helped her to feel secure.

Our new home is just a block away from Autumn's friends, Rachel and Randal. The elementary school is about three blocks away, and the trolley -- which I can take to work -- is just a couple of blocks away as well. And now with the high gas prices, I'm glad for the opportunity to use mass transit.

Below is a collection of photos from our trip to San Francisco, done over the 4th of July weekend -- just as our condo purchase closed!

Autumn's transition to a preschool out in La Mesa has been much more problematic than the move itself. After being at her old daycare for two years, it was hard for her to attend a strange place full of new kids and teachers. She wailed for the first week of drop-offs, and sulked, telling us she didn't like preschool, throughout the second and third weeks. But by week four she was enjoying the place, and hasn't been giving us too much grief since. It was hard to steel ourselves for the daily chore of a depressed, crying child. I am, however, glad we stuck it out. There are certain things that kids must just learn to cope with, and a transition like that is one of them.

Recent Autumn Quotes
"I'm a tiger. Tigers don't go to preschool."
"I've got a small butt. Daddy's got a big butt."
"This salsa is spicy. It's for big girls and Daddy's, but not little boys."
"Excuse me! My butt burped."

Autumn was frightened of our neighbor's drumming, and so we took her over to meet them. Dave and Anne are wonderful neighbors with two teenage sons. The drumming, it turns out, wasn't the teenagers, but was Dave! He let Autumn bang away, and she had a blast. So, Lise went out and bought her a drum of her own. Now she's not frightened, but perhaps we should be...

Our neighbors on our other side, Paula and Walt, are musicians as well! Walt teaches guitar in his own studio. So it looks like if Autumn as a perchance for music, she's got plenty of people around to show her the ropes!

Enjoying San Diego Comic Con